Alexa
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Amazon Echo and Echo Dot
Echo $99.00 Echo Dot $49.99 Essentially the main meaningful difference is speaker quality. But Dot has audio output for better speaker expansion. Echo is more stylish and has 7 microphones versus 4 for the echo 2nd Generation Echo and Echo Dot have superior microphone voice recognition and voice software (see Intercom below) Echos have "Skills" (apps) now over 10,000. Multiple Echos can function as a home intercom. |
Google Home $129.00
Google Home mini $49.00 Google has much better question answering skill. 10,000 (8,000 (a) vs 3,000) Google calls its apps "Services" with over 2,000 and growing. https://www.androidauthority.com/google-home-services-749968/ Growing up in a large family, I'm well acquainted with having your parents call out from the kitchen or driveway to bring everyone down to the dining table or in the car to leave for school. Now, using a simple voice command "Hey Google, broadcast INSERT MESSAGE HERE," Google Home can now relay any message all over the house — no screaming required. |
How It Works
You activate Alexa or Google Home (referred to as "IVCS") with a "wake word." For an Amazon Echo or Echo Dot, you can choose one of three possible wake words, "Alexa" (the default), "Amazon" or "Echo." Unless you turn off the microphones (the Echo has seven) and use a mechanical button or remote control to activate its capabilities, Alexa Voice Service, the system that powers the Echo and Alexa, and other IVCSs are always listening for their wake word.
In Amazon's case, it keeps approximately 60 seconds of audio in memory for pre-processing so the responses can be situationally aware and "instant." Amazon says the listening is done locally, on the device, not in the cloud. So technically, the audio does not leave the premises.
Always Listening Does Not Mean Always Transmitting!
Yes, an IVCS is always listening AND recording. Which raises the question, "What does it do with the recordings it does not use?" In Amazon's case, the company's answer is that they are erased as they are replaced with the most current 60 seconds. So while the system locally stores approximately 60 seconds of audio preceding your wake word, it transmits only a "fraction of a second" of audio preceding your wake word, plus your actual query and the system's response. For Alexa, you can find a record of your query on the Home screen of your Alexa app.
More Questions
What happens to the approximately 60 seconds of audio recording preceding a wake word? The one that has a recording of the TV soundtrack, footsteps, the loud argument in the next room, the gunshot, etc.? What happens with that audio? Again, Amazon says it is erased and replaced with the next 60 seconds of audio.
We Must Deal with This Sooner or Later
Alexa is NOT dangerous. The data it collects is NOT dangerous. Nothing about an Amazon Echo is dangerous. It's awesome. I have one in the kitchen, in the living room, in my home office, and on my night table. It's an amazing controller, great alarm clock, spectacular Spotify and Amazon Prime interface, an exceptional news and weather reporter, and it does lots of other stuff you can look up online. I love it.
I also love my Google Home. Its ASR/NLU system is second to none! Let's face it: Google is "the" repository of publicly available knowledge. When I'm on my handheld, I rely on "OK Google," and while I think Siri is audio-impaired and database-challenged, sometimes I use it too.
You activate Alexa or Google Home (referred to as "IVCS") with a "wake word." For an Amazon Echo or Echo Dot, you can choose one of three possible wake words, "Alexa" (the default), "Amazon" or "Echo." Unless you turn off the microphones (the Echo has seven) and use a mechanical button or remote control to activate its capabilities, Alexa Voice Service, the system that powers the Echo and Alexa, and other IVCSs are always listening for their wake word.
In Amazon's case, it keeps approximately 60 seconds of audio in memory for pre-processing so the responses can be situationally aware and "instant." Amazon says the listening is done locally, on the device, not in the cloud. So technically, the audio does not leave the premises.
Always Listening Does Not Mean Always Transmitting!
Yes, an IVCS is always listening AND recording. Which raises the question, "What does it do with the recordings it does not use?" In Amazon's case, the company's answer is that they are erased as they are replaced with the most current 60 seconds. So while the system locally stores approximately 60 seconds of audio preceding your wake word, it transmits only a "fraction of a second" of audio preceding your wake word, plus your actual query and the system's response. For Alexa, you can find a record of your query on the Home screen of your Alexa app.
More Questions
What happens to the approximately 60 seconds of audio recording preceding a wake word? The one that has a recording of the TV soundtrack, footsteps, the loud argument in the next room, the gunshot, etc.? What happens with that audio? Again, Amazon says it is erased and replaced with the next 60 seconds of audio.
We Must Deal with This Sooner or Later
Alexa is NOT dangerous. The data it collects is NOT dangerous. Nothing about an Amazon Echo is dangerous. It's awesome. I have one in the kitchen, in the living room, in my home office, and on my night table. It's an amazing controller, great alarm clock, spectacular Spotify and Amazon Prime interface, an exceptional news and weather reporter, and it does lots of other stuff you can look up online. I love it.
I also love my Google Home. Its ASR/NLU system is second to none! Let's face it: Google is "the" repository of publicly available knowledge. When I'm on my handheld, I rely on "OK Google," and while I think Siri is audio-impaired and database-challenged, sometimes I use it too.
Intercom System
Amazon's Echo devices have a new trick: They can be used like an intercom system inside your house.
For example, you can now call the Echo Dot in your bedroom from the standard Echo in your living room. Or, you can stream video from an Echo Show in your baby's room to another Echo Show in your kitchen.
All you have to do in either case is ask Alexa, Amazon's intelligent assistant, which is built into its Echo gadgets.
You'll be able to access the intercom feature via the Alexa smartphone and tablet app also. So, if your kids have Echos in their rooms, you use your phone to talk to them through their smart speakers, instead of yelling up the stairs at them. And, via the smartphone app, you can call them directly on their Echo speakers even when you're away from home.
Amazon built the new intercom capability on top of its recently-launched Alexa voice-calling feature. The difference is that instead of telling Alexa to call a friend or a family member, you instruct it to call the kitchen or whichever room you have an Echo situated in.
Drop In command
Google Home Assistant
Growing up in a large family, I'm well acquainted with having your parents call out from the kitchen or driveway to bring everyone down to the dining table or in the car to leave for school. Now, using a simple voice command "Hey Google, broadcast INSERT MESSAGE HERE," Google Home can now relay any message all over the house — no screaming required.
Amazon's Echo devices have a new trick: They can be used like an intercom system inside your house.
For example, you can now call the Echo Dot in your bedroom from the standard Echo in your living room. Or, you can stream video from an Echo Show in your baby's room to another Echo Show in your kitchen.
All you have to do in either case is ask Alexa, Amazon's intelligent assistant, which is built into its Echo gadgets.
You'll be able to access the intercom feature via the Alexa smartphone and tablet app also. So, if your kids have Echos in their rooms, you use your phone to talk to them through their smart speakers, instead of yelling up the stairs at them. And, via the smartphone app, you can call them directly on their Echo speakers even when you're away from home.
Amazon built the new intercom capability on top of its recently-launched Alexa voice-calling feature. The difference is that instead of telling Alexa to call a friend or a family member, you instruct it to call the kitchen or whichever room you have an Echo situated in.
Drop In command
Google Home Assistant
Growing up in a large family, I'm well acquainted with having your parents call out from the kitchen or driveway to bring everyone down to the dining table or in the car to leave for school. Now, using a simple voice command "Hey Google, broadcast INSERT MESSAGE HERE," Google Home can now relay any message all over the house — no screaming required.